
Ukraine passed mobilization law a year too late, Polish FM Sikorski says
Sikorski said that the law should have been passed when there were "many volunteers" to serve in the army, and "people felt personally threatened."
Sikorski said that the law should have been passed when there were "many volunteers" to serve in the army, and "people felt personally threatened."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed that Warsaw has not yet participated in the project due to "temporary formal obstacles."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine's offer to help was "moving."
"We have to tell the truth, talk about the Volyn tragedy, about other mutual acts," Sikorski said, adding that Ukraine and Poland must choose a "common and secure future."
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 13.
Speaking at a press conference, Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the perpetrators' goals were to "extort information, to blackmail individuals and institutions, and to wage de facto cyberwar."
Speaking from his own viewpoint, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland has the legal right to down stray Russian missiles and drones that enter Polish airspace. However, he acknowledges that Poland has not yet shot down anything and that Warsaw has not yet made a decision.
Key developments on Sept. 2: * Russia launches missile strike on Kyiv * Russia has no advance near Pokrovsk over past 2 days, Zelensky claims * Poland has right to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine for national security, Polish FM says * Dutch PM makes surprise visit to Ukraine, announces new aid package
Poland and neighboring countries to Ukraine are "responsible for protecting their own airspace," despite NATO's opposition, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Sept. 2.
Most Poles believe the Polish military should shoot down Russian drones that enter Polish airspace during aerial attacks on Ukraine, according to a survey published on Sept. 1 by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Speaking on Polish television in late July, Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz reminded Ukrainians that even his country’s overwhelming support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia has its limits. Ukraine could never expect Poland’s backing in joining the EU if it didn’t “resolve” the historical
Ukraine should become a member of the EU despite disagreements with Poland over the historical issue of the mass killings of Poles in Volyn in the 1940s, Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Holownia said on Aug. 31.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during a press conference on Aug. 28 that allies advised Poland to exercise restraint when dealing with unidentified violations of Polish airspace.
Ukraine can only expect to receive additional Polish MiG-29 fighter jets once the country receives modern F-35 fighter jets as replacements, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Aug. 27, in response to President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for Poland to provide additional Soviet-era jets.
Russia is likely testing Poland's air defense system, Polish Brigadier General Tomasz Drewniak told Radio RMF24 on Aug. 27, after a likely Russian drone flew into Polish airspace on Aug. 26 amid a mass attack on Ukraine.
Jacek Goryszewski, a spokesperson for Poland's Operational Command, told Reuters that "most likely (the object) was a drone, and we assume so because the trajectory of the flight and the speed indicate that it was definitely not a missile."
As of 10:09 a.m. local time, at least three people were killed in Ukraine, and strikes were reported in Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kryvyi Rih, as well as in Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.
Piotr Lukasiewicz will replace Jaroslaw Guzy in Kyiv, appointed by the previous Polish government under Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and started his tenure in December 2023.
"I have never had, and do not have, the slightest doubt that, through their united efforts and struggle, the courageous Ukrainian people will uphold their independence," said Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Warsaw ordered 50,000 155-millimeter shells from the South African company Denel Munition, a subsidiary of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in which it holds a 51% stake.
Sirens fill the streets. Police cars flash passersby with blue lights. The capital city pauses. But no one’s phone buzzes with alerts. No one seeks shelter. No one scans the sky for missiles. The scene is Warsaw, not Kyiv. Every year on Aug. 1, at 5:00 p.m.
Poland has come under particular scrutiny in recent days over the act of sabotage which is still being investigated, with a former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, BND, earlier this week claiming it could not have been carried out without Warsaw's support.
"What the Russian troops and Russian aviation are doing to Ukraine's territory bears the hallmarks of genocide and inhuman crimes. Ukraine has every right to wage war in such a way as to paralyze Russia in its aggressive intentions as effectively as possible," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz signed a $10 billion agreement with U.S. company Boeing for 96 Apache attack helicopters for the country's army, Polish media reported on Aug. 13.
Polish authorities detained former Open Russia activist Igor Rogov on charges of preparing an explosion. Rogov will reportedly face three months of pre-trial detention.
Companies in Poland are seeing increasing shortages of workers as the influx of Ukrainians into the country slows, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on Aug. 5, citing data from Credit Agricole bank.
Kyiv and Warsaw have agreed to form and jointly train a new army brigade on Polish soil, betting the initiative could help recruit some of the scores of Ukrainian men living in Poland and other EU countries. The so-called Ukrainian Legion, a fresh initiative to boost Ukraine’s military manpower
"The Czech Defense Ministry is gathering information from the Polish side about the creation of the so-called Ukrainian Legion," the ministry's spokesperson, David Polak, told the Idnes.cz news portal earlier.
"I do not understand why Hungary wants to remain a member of organizations that they dislike so much and that supposedly mistreat them," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski said.
Russia blamed the U.S. and U.K. for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia and Germany in September 2022. Investigations have so far failed to find conclusive evidence, and both Denmark and Sweden dropped the case in February 2024. The German investigation is still ongoing.
Belarus sentences a German citizen to death for alleged terrorism, Berlin pulled into negotiations over his fate. After handing down the death sentence to a German citizen, Minsk says it will extend visa free travel to Belarus for 35 European countries. Poland gives Alexander Lukashenko’s regime three conditions to
"The 45th package is now in the process of being implemented, which includes, among other things, a significant amount of ammunition for Ukraine," former Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych said on July 25.